


Who Are You?

by Larxicana



Series: Wild's Magic Shop AU [4]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom
Genre: AU of the AU, Alternate Universe, Angel Sky - Freeform, Angels, Happy Ending, Humor, Linked Universe, Modern Magic, Some Family Feels, Tiny bit of Angst, Wild's Magic Shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23970685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larxicana/pseuds/Larxicana
Summary: As an angel in service to the Goddess Hylia, Sky possessed the ability to read or sense creatures around him. He could look at someone or something and see the kind of energies moving through them, their auras, and how powerful they were. Everyone had this sort of display, even those who held no magical abilities at all, and Sky could see all of it.Except for one.
Series: Wild's Magic Shop AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1516865
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72





	Who Are You?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for this AU's one year birthday! It's based off the Wild's Magic Shop AU on Discord. Today is Time and Sky day, so I wrote this little piece. I hope you enjoy it!

As an angel in service to the Goddess Hylia, Sky possessed the ability to read or sense creatures around him. He could look at someone or something and see the kind of energies moving through them, their auras, and how powerful they were. He liked being around Wild, for his energy was always a calming green color, warm against his skin, and smelling of earth after rainfall. Twilight was warmer, heavier, and drummed against his skin like a quiet, low bass. Hyrule’s was light and sweet and never failed to make him smile. All of these were characteristics of the kind of magical beings that they were, with their own personal flair thrown in. Everyone had one, even those who held no magical abilities at all, and Sky could see all of it.

Except for one.

There was a man, looking to be in his forties, that visited the shop every other day and sat in the same chair, in the same corner, and drank the same tea. His name was Time and both Wild and Twilight were rather fond of him, always having his tea ready for him, made just the way he liked it. Time would sit there and read the newspaper he brought with him. He seemed harmless. He even helped Wild with some of his spells if he couldn’t get something quite right. He was always kind to Sky when he came to visit as well. All of this was fine and dandy, but the angel could _never_ get a read on him. He couldn’t see his energies, auras, what kind of magic he possessed if any, how powerful it was… nothing! It wasn’t that he lacked magic either. When Sky looked at Legend, who possessed no magical abilities, he still had a color around him that displayed his spirit, the kind of person he was. Time had _nothing._ When Sky looked at Time there was no lights or colors around his form. This was impossible. Sky knew that every living creature had something, so that left him with two possibilities; - either he was slipping and he just really couldn’t see it…

Or Time was insanely powerful.

As an angel in service to the goddess, sworn to protect the light and the good in this world, Sky took it upon himself to find out what exactly this man was. He had to find out what his M.O. was. If he was poking around the shop with plans of hurting Wild or Twilight, just playing an act of a nice guy, Sky was gonna smite him back to whatever hole he crawled out of.

Unfortunately for him, his skills were not in the stealth department. Sun was better at this undercover, information gathering than he was, but he refused to ask her to do this for him. What if she got hurt? No, this was his self-appointed mission. He was going to find out what Time was hiding if it was the last thing he did.

Watching him when he was at the shop yielded no answers. Of course he would put on the act of a nice guy when he was around the others, wouldn’t want them knowing about the master plan Sky just knew he had brewing. When he left, Sky followed him from the air. The shop was located on the edge of town, nestled against the start of a forest. Time stepped out on the road and just started walking, following it for about thirty minutes before turning down a dirt road. With all the trees in his way, Sky momentarily panicked, afraid he was going to lose him when he was out of sight. Usually he could trace someone by their energy signature, _but Time didn’t have one._ Sky dove down, pulling his wings in close so he could slip between branches to land on one, looking down at the road. Thankfully, Time was still there and didn’t seem to notice him. Thank goodness the leaf rustles weren’t as loud as Sky feared they were.

As the man kept walking, Sky would move from tree to tree, until finally they came to a small clearing. Nestled in the middle by a few large trees was a cottage made of stone with flower boxes filled to the brim under the windows. On the ground around it were more wildflowers and some wooden planters filled with different kinds of herbs and vegetables. Sky narrowed his eyes at them. Was this man some kind of Green Witch, like Wild? It would explain how Time could help him with his spells. Time paused to look at the herbs, then the flowers in the boxes, before stepping inside the house. Sky made a face, because he couldn’t see through the walls. He was going to have to stake out and wait for any sign of evil.

Unfortunately, nothing exciting happened for the next few hours and before Sky knew it, he was blinking the sleep from his eyes as the sun was coming up. Crap! He had fallen asleep on his stake out! Frantic, Sky looked back at the house, but saw Time was just poking through his planters, picking weeds as he found them. He didn’t seem to notice him, thank goodness. He watched him go through his morning routine of gardening, before he started back down the road and towards the shop.

It went on like this for a week with no sign of magic of any kind, not even the evil kind. If Time wasn’t at his house, then he was at the shop, and if he wasn’t at the shop, then he was at the park. He always had some form of reading material with him. Sometimes he would go to the store to pick up simple things like bread and whatever vegetables he wasn’t already growing in his garden. He never saw him go to any sketchy buildings or cult meetings and never saw him pick up a book of dark spells. The darkest thing he ever saw the man read was a collection of Lovecraft short stories, but those wouldn’t raise the dead. At least, not without the proper ingredients.

Sky frowned from his perch in a tree above the bench Time was sitting in, feeling frustrated. Today the man was reading the Sunday newspaper and knew they were going to be there a while, just from the sheer thickness of it. He was no closer to figuring out what kind of creature Time was than when he first met the man.

The angel sighed and folded his arms under his head to act as a pillow as he laid on his stomach on a branch. He watched Time flip through the paper until he stopped on a very colorful section of pictures. Sky tilted his head, lifting it from his arms as he eyed it curiously. Being an angel, his eyes were sharper than most, so he could read the different panels and found himself smiling from how silly they were. Time pulled the colorful pages from the paper, folded it in half, then in half again, before looking up at him, holding them above his head. “Do you want the comics? I don’t read them.” He asked.

“Yeah!” Sky pushed himself up and hopped down a few branches until he could reach down and take the comics from him. “Thank you.” He shifted to sit down and unfolded the pages to pick up here he left off. He got through two stripes before he realized what had just transpired. Sky’s eyes widened as his body tensed. Time knew he had been in the tree this whole time. So casually he held the pages up to him, like he had been sitting right beside him. _Crap! He blew his cover somehow!_

Suddenly frantic, the feathers on his wings puffed up significantly, an unfortunate habit that accrued when he found himself embarrassed. The puff knocked a few feathers loose, causing them to flutter down and Time to blink up at him curiously. Sky peaked down at him from the side of his newspaper, then frantically scrambled to his feet, trying to fly away, but slipped and fell out of the tree instead. Time jumped and stood to help him up, but Sky was already on his feet, spreading his fluffier than normal wings to fly away.

So Time was smarter than he gave him credit for. That was definitely a miscalculation on his part. Was he aware this whole time? Is that why he didn’t see him do anything sketchy? Sky was worried about his entire operation at this point. It was clear that subtlety was out the window. He was going to have to use a more direct approach.

A few days later, after stealing himself for conflict, Sky went in search of the man. He found him sitting outside his cottage in a wicker chair with pillows on it, one leg folded underneath him, with his newspaper and a bowl of M&M’s. It was admittedly a beautiful day for being outside. Sky landed not far from him, already dawned in his gold, angelic armor and sword on his back. He marched over to him, pulling the holy weapon from its sheath and pointed it at the man, glaring. “Tell me who you are, creature!” He demanded in a powerful tone, spreading his wings for dramatic affect. “Reveal to me your plans and intentions towards Wild and Twilight! As an agent of the Goddess Hylia, I command you to obey!”

Time looked up from his newspaper, eyeing the armor the boy wore, his wings, then the sword pointed at him. He tilted his head so study up its length, then the blue handle at the end, beautifully engraved and wrapped. He didn’t look frightened, instead… curious, almost fond as he looked upon the sword, like he was looking at an old friend. Time then lifted his single eye back up to Sky and grabbed the bowl of candy sitting on the armrest, holding it out to him. “Would you like some?” He offered.

Sky’s eyes darted down to the bowl for a few seconds, then focused back on the man in front of him. “No, I won’t fall for your cheap tricks of deception! I have served the Goddess for hundreds of years. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“Are you sure? They’re the peanut kind.”

Sky’s eyes darted back to the bowl. _Crap_ those were his favorite. He pressed his lips together and lifted his free hand, but then shook his head. _“No!”_ He cried, voice taking a slightly higher pitch. “Stop trying to distract me!”

“What about the comic section?” Time asked, pulling the folded paper from where it was nestled between his thigh and the armrest, holding it up. “I put it aside for you.”

The angel blinked in confusion, “They have comics on days other than Sunday?”

“Yeah, but it’s only a front and back page and they weren’t colored in. Still, they have a few of the more popular strips.”

Sky bit his lip, then shook his head again, lowered his sword and stomped his foot. “No! I’m trying to interrogate you! You can’t just give me candy and comic strips!”

Time stared up at him then tilted his head. “So… does that mean you don’t want them? Because I’ll just recycle them.”

“No, of course I want them!” Sky snapped as he snatched the paper from him. He glanced over the front page for a moment then looked back up when he heard candies clink against the glass sides of the bowl. He watched Time put a few in his mouth. “Ugh!” He growled, shaking his head. “Why are you like this?! You should be terrified for your life right now! Do you have any idea who I am? I am the Goddess’s right hand! I have the power to smite you back into the deepest pits of hell!” He held up his sword, motioning to it with his newspaper. “This sword is a holy weapon capable of cutting down entire armies of demons with a single swing! How can you just sit there and act like this? Who _are_ you?!”

“I am but a simple man just trying to enjoy life.” Time told him, leaning back into his chair.

Sky narrowed his eyes, “No you’re not. Every creature has an energy signature and an aura that tells us exactly what kind they are. It tells us what magic they use, how powerful they are, and what kind of soul they have. Even people with no magical abilities have a signature. But you! You don’t have anything! I look at you and don’t see a single thing that tells me who or what you are. Either I’m starting to slip or you’re powerful enough to completely erase it.” Sky pointed his sword at him again, glaring. “And it’s definitely not the first one. So, you’re going to tell me exactly who you are, what you’re doing here, and what you want with Wild and Twilight, or I’m going to cut you down where you stand.” He paused, glancing at his chair, then back at his eyes. “Or… sit.”

Time sighed and rubbed the side of his neck, then folded his newspaper to tuck between his thigh and the armrest. He shifted a little and leaned back into his chair, folding his hands in his lap. He was quiet for a long moment as he gazed down at the wildflowers growing nearby. “I understand why you’re acting so cautious.” He smiled up at him and for a moment, he looked so much older than his physical appearance suggested. “Don’t take offence, but even though you’ve been in existence for hundreds of years, you’re still rather young. You act as mortals do when they’re scared of something. They think to attack it when they can’t figure it out.”

“Don’t insult me. I have fought countless battles where the unknown can get people killed.”

Time nodded a little and hummed, “True, but how do you know to be afraid of something if you know nothing about it? You stand here before me in full armor, with a blessed blade that was forged thousands of years ago by the Goddess herself, ready to cut me through at the first sign that something doesn’t seem right, based on the information you already have about the world and how you think it works. You’ve gone through countless cause and effects that have solidified this way of thinking inside you and you haven’t lived long enough to dislodge from it.” He propped his elbow on the armrest to hold his chin, studying him with a bit of fond amusement, like a parent would look at a child. Sky saw him look at Twilight and Wild in the same way. He wasn’t sure how he felt about having it directed towards him.

“You still haven’t answered my questions.” Sky told him. “You sit there and talk as though you understand everything about me, but you don’t. You’re just stalling, putting me off. Well I’m not leaving until I get what I came here for.”

Time watched him, then said, “I am a powerful warlock from the north here to suck the magic out of two shopkeepers who make amazing tea.” He smiled, “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Sky growled at him as his shoulders tensed and rose, but then he sighed and they dropped. His brows knitted together, looking tired and yearning. “No!” He said, dropping his sword to his side. “I don’t want that at all! I just want to know why I can’t tell what you are. If you’re so innocent, then you wouldn’t have a need to hide it. Only the wicked have need to hide their power from others.”

“Or the weary.”

The angel opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. For the first time since he met him, he felt like he could see past the walls he had built up. No, he could not see the colors or energy currents. He couldn’t see what kind of magic he possessed or how powerful it was. Instead, in his single blue eye, he saw… he felt… _the world. _He saw the endless expanse of land stretching and reaching towards the sky with trees and ocean waves, but never being able to touch it. He saw quiet forests and curious eyes, baby bears and grass rolling like thunder. He felt the weight of the world on his chest and for a moment, it was warm and comfortable, but then he felt like he was suffocating as air was taken from his lungs from cruel forces he both knew and didn’t know. He saw blood, then rain, then sorrow unlike anything he knew. He saw fire, heard children crying and the ticking of a clock that shouldn’t be working. His body ached like he had been running nonstop for hundreds- no, _thousands_ of years, carrying a weight that was ever increasing, that threatened to crush him if he wasn’t careful in balancing it. He felt cold, not from snow or mountain air, but like all the blood had drained from his body, slowly seeping out of him, not from wounds, but as though someone stole it from him.

The sound of paper shuffling broke Sky from his trance and he blinked a few times. He found his vision blurry and his cheeks cold and damp. His body trembled as he took in an unsteady breath and glanced around. He was still standing in front of the cottage nestled in the forest, with wildflowers growing around it in a carefree manner. Time stood from his chair and grabbed the comics Sky had dropped, setting them in his chair. He then moved to pick up his sword, causing the angel’s mouth to move in question, _because he shouldn’t be able to do that_, but his voice was gone. Time simply slipped it back into its sheath on his back. He moved to stand in front of him as he dug into his jeans pocket and produced a handkerchief that he used to wipe away the angel’s tears.

“I enjoy going to the shop because of the way it feels.” Time started to explain. “It’s… light and warm, and embraces you the moment you walk inside. However, I visit so often _because_ of Wild and Twilight. I don’t think I can explain it to you, not yet, at least, but they make me feel… young and alive again. I’m incredibly fond of them,” he folded the handkerchief up again and slipped it back in his pocket, “and just as you, I will protect them with everything I have.” Time glanced to the side as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and smiled a little. “I can’t have kids like other people, but… I love them like they were mine. It does my heart good to know you also have their best interests in mind, enough so to charge into a battle for them.”

Sky stared at him for a long moment, eyes wide and sad. “Who are you?” He asked quietly, but this time, he was asking more than just what sort of creature he was.

Time turned his single eye to him, “I am just a simple man who is tired of traveling. I just want to have my garden, read my newspaper, and be there to experience the little things life has to offer.”

The angel stared at him, then swallowed as he glanced down at the ground. He took a slow deep breath, then nodded. “Alright.” He paused, then looked back up at him. Time tilted his head. “Ok, I believe you. I… I’m sorry I accused you of being evil and… threatening you like I did.”

Time smiled at him and ruffled his hair. “I don’t blame you and I forgive you. You’ll grow out of that, I’m sure. Now, since you’re here, would you like some iced tea?” He turned and grabbed his candy dish from the chair to press into Sky’s hands.

The younger one looked down at the M&M’s, then smiled and popped a few in his mouth. “Ok.” He agreed, following him inside.


End file.
